In a prior post, I shared how I asked God to deliver me from people. Reason being, I found myself extremely annoyed around certain environments and people. My initial prayer was for God to make the people just go away, but since you can't have a ministry without people, he literally made sure those same people who annoyed me kept showing up.
What was God trying to get at? Why would he keep causing the very people I wanted to escape to continue pursuing me in some way? He was trying to teach me spiritual and emotional maturity. In the process, he helped me understand how mastery of myself and personal boundaries was the key to the peace I was seeking.
Emotional maturity is essential for spiritual growth. When we are emotionally mature, we are able to understand and manage our emotions in a healthy way. This allows us to have healthy relationships, make wise decisions, and experience God's love and grace more deeply. It also helps us hear God more clearly, instead of our emotions. The gift of spiritual discernment is sharpened in our lives as we learn to die to our emotions.